Elberta resident addresses council regarding ditches and road damage

Carl Hill of Elberta Drive addressed the council regarding the ditches and road conditions on Elberta Drive. According to Hill, the road is collapsing into the ditch, and residents have to put their garbage barrels in the road, which means the cars have to maneuver between them when driving. He went on to say they have been told they are responsible for maintaining the ditch, but many of the residents are elderly or have health problems, which makes it very difficult to clean out ditches that are 36” deep. He explained that one neighbor has to use a pool ladder to get in and out of the ditch to clean it. He stated that if the ditch was 12” deep, this wouldn’t be a problem.

He went on to assert that they are so deep, they exposed the gas lines, and Columbia Gas had to come out and lower the gas lines. He asked why Elberta needed two 36” deep ditches. He suggested that if a kid falls into the ditch, they are going to get hurt. He then asked why the residents should have to pay to cover them up when they didn’t want them in the first place. He also stated that the biodegradable webbing that was put down is still there. He asserted that it was not biodegradable, and it is clogging up their weed wackers because it won’t go away.

Moving on to the road conditions, Hill stated that the city repaved their road two years ago and now it is falling apart. According to Hill, the reason the road is falling apart is because a resident on Edgewater built several break walls protecting his property and the neighboring properties, and he had the heavy construction vehicles traveling down Elberta to get to the project site. Hill argued that the trucks were too heavy to be traveling on their road and it has caused obvious damage.

Hill wanted to know who provided that resident with the permits to build those walls; asserting that he did not believe the individual had a permit. He also stated that the road now needs repaired, and he wanted to know who was going to pay for that. He went on to say that he did not believe the cost of repairs should fall on the tax payers. He firmly stated several times that the city should not have to pay for that, but rather the person that caused the damage. Frustrated, Hill exclaimed, “The road is trashed and it’s only two years old.”

Council president Herron responded that they could not answer his questions right then, but that they would look into it and get back to him about it. For clarification, Herron asked him what exactly he wanted to know. Hill responded that he wanted to know who provided the permits for the breakwalls that were built, and who is responsible to pay for the road repairs. Mayor Bulan responded that the permits would have come through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Hill responded that he didn’t believe there were permits for the job at all. Herron stated that they would look into the permit issue, and stated further that the question of financial responsibility would be a legal matter, and they would have to look into that.